This 'n That

My brain is working on other things this week.  I am varnishing trays that my mother painted 50 years ago.  With usage over the years there has been some damage to the finish.  The only place I can varnish is my sewing room because I can keep it somewhat free of dust and dog hair by closing the door.  Meanwhile my thread painted portrait languishes because varnish, mineral spirits, brushes and paint have taken over its space.

What a mess!

This is a great time to take the sewing machine to my service person for its annual cleaning and adjusting.  I highly recommend that you do the same.  I sew 2-3 hours most days and it is ready for its check-up every May.  You get the best results when you take good care of your machine.  Just like a car.

Remember my post on folding fabric?  Well it looks great, but when I went to add a couple more fabrics I found it difficult to manage the long, folded pieces (about 10" x 6").  It is just hard to maintain the fold on both ends while squashing the rest of pieces in the drawer to make room for the new.  The most efficient way to do it is to remove the drawer, set it on its side, add the new fabric and replace the drawer.  Nuisance.

Long fold turned out to be inefficient.

Solution:  Fold each long piece of fabric in half.  This makes a smaller, fatter package individually, but doesn't take up any more space.  Much easier to manage.  I can go through a drawer and make the extra fold on all the fabrics in about 5 minutes.  When there is significant yardage it is hard to make this fold so I just leave it long.  It is thick enough to manage easily.

Much easier to manage.

I'll just do a drawer each time I go to my fabric storage shed.

Sew some happy seams this week.   I wish you a modicum of efficiency.